It should be no contest really. Iran has the largest gas reserves in the world, and comes just after Saudi Arabia with oil. It has a vastly greater population that is much more sophisticated and far more educated, along with a much more diverse and capable society. It also has considerable geopolitical advantages.

But the Saudi Royals have teamed up with the Israelis, and together they manipulate the Americans, who in turn manipulate the EU, so that Iran is the odd man out under severe economic sanctions, ongoing coup plots, and everywhere now surrounded by hostile military forces lead by the United States and Israel.

Nevertheless, fearing an Iranian breakthrough that could lead to major political and economic gains, the Saudis, Israelis, Neocons, and much of world Jewry keep pushing for isolating Iran, weakening Iran, “regime changing” Iran. The battle isn’t really about nuclear weapons…rather that’s the ruse, the excuse. The battle is over regional power and influence, and that of course includes the vast natural resources of the region and the resultant excesses of petro-dollars.

Add to this how the fractured and dominated Muslim world has allowed the Sunni-Shia divide to be manipulated by the West (Israel included of course) to their own great advantage. And as a result, even in just recent decades, millions of Muslims and Arabs have been slaughtered, countries destroyed, millions more made homeless refugees, and the entire region now engulfed in flames of hatred and destruction.

It is a complex modern-day Judeo-Christian-led neo-Crusade and that helps explain the rise of radical Islamic forces now throughout the region from North Africa to Pakistan.